KCET public television in Southern California -- as a part of Blueprint America -- in a two part report following the one-year mark of President Obama's stimulus plan on the question of high-speed rail and the potential of green jobs as the California state budget verges on bankruptcy.

The transportation bill -- the massive legislation authorizing and funding the country’s roads and mass-transit infrastructure (from highways to bus lanes to railways to bike lanes) -- expires every six years. That, however, does not mean a new bill is passed every six-years. It’s Washington, D.C., after all. Come along with Blueprint America correspondent Miles O'Brien as he talks to people on Capitol Hill about how the transportation bill becomes a law.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced on Wednesday the winning projects to be funded under their Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant program, which was created to oversee the dispersal of $1.5 billion included in the stimulus plan a year ago. In other words, a bureaucracy within a bureaucracy. While the DOT's function is to oversee the flow of transportation dollars from Washington, the TIGER program's function is to do it better (as it relates to stimulus funding and as it relates to finally using an acronym that is also Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood's nickname).

An op-ed forum to discuss Blueprint America: Beyond the Motor City. Use the below reactions and interpretations of the documentary from various transportation and Detroit-interested groups as a starting point to add your thoughts in the comment section at the bottom of the page.

High-speed rail in California, in addition to connecting the state's major cities, will link some 20 smaller cities to the industries and economies of those larger centers. And as train stops were determined, no one wanted to be passed by.
Blueprint America followed Mayor Jesus Gamboa as he lobbied the California High-Speed Rail Authority for a train stop for the city of Visalia.

In documenting the Great Rescission, not many images are used more than those of a broken down Detroit. A city hit even harder by the financial struggles of the big three automobile companies, it has emptied -- built for 2 million people, it now has half that number. Nearly one-third of the land is unused, and some 80,000 homes are vacant. Still, one local couple sees potential. They are building the 'Power House'.

A national high-speed rail plan was put forward by President Barack Obama in April 2009, just months after he set aside $8 billion in stimulus funds to begin such an undertaking. At the end of January this year, the White House selected 13 passenger rail corridors in 31 states to receive stimulus funding. High-speed rail projects in California, Florida and Illinois were the big winners.

''Those who can, build,'' Robert Moses at one time said. ''Those who can't, criticize.'' From the Public Television archives at THIRTEEN/ WNET in New York, an hour long interview from 1977 with Robert Moses, the "master builder" of modern day New York City. But more than just New York, Moses set an example nationwide of how to build the American City of the 20th Century.